Shakespeare, MT’s women WWI veterans, ‘Dangerous Snow’ highlight MOR lectures
A destination for the Gallatin Valley’s curious minds, the Museum of the Rockies is never in short supply of public events to accompany its many exhibits (including two new additions). Here’s a look at some upcoming happenings at your neighborhood museum.
First up on Monday, March 4th, “Bending the Future: Thinking Forward about Public History, Pedagogy & Public Life” with Marla Miller comes to Hager Auditorium at 6pm. Miller, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and President of the National Council on Public History, will give a lecture on contemporary issues in the field of public history. This event is open to the public.
An expert on Historic Preservation and the history of the National Parks, Miller’s thinking draws upon the work of preservation professionals, historians, writers, activists, architects, and urbanists. Public historians across the nation – and in Bozeman – deal with the questions of how preservation contributes to the financial, environmental, social and cultural well-being of communities. Thinking forward asks the question, how can preservation and public history be a tool for achieving a more just society and world?
The next in Montana State University’s Provost Distinguished Lecturer Series, “Shakespeare’s Last Best Place,” will take place Tuesday, March 5th. Presenting in Hager Auditorium at 7pm will be Gretchen Minton, English professor and Shakespearean expert at MSU. The evening is open to the public.
Even though he was illiterate, mountain man Jim Bridger loved Shakespeare so much that he hired people to tell him Shakespeare’s stories at campfires as he broke trails in early-day Montana. So began an evolving relationship between the Bard and the Big Sky state, said Minton. The lecture will give more details about the long and perhaps surprising love affair. A reception will follow. (Description courtesy of MSU News Service.)
The Gallatin History Museum Lecture Series returns with “Knapsacks & Roses: Montana’s Women Veterans of World War I” on Wednesday, March 6th in Hager Auditorium. Retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, and ground combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Edward E. “Ed” Saunders, will present at 6pm in Hager Auditorium. This event is open to the public.
On the centennial year of America’s victory in World War I, his program, inspired by Saunders’ book of the same name, tells the epic true stories of intrepid and heroic Montana women who served in uniform in that terrible upheaval: mostly as nurses in the Army Nurse Corps.
During World War I over 200 of these courageous and indomitable women from the big sky country served stateside in crowded, understaffed, diseased-filled base hospitals, and overseas in war-torn France, enduring terrible and deadly battlefield conditions. They served an indifferent federal government denying them equality as the men. After the war, the women came home alone, unheralded, and mostly forgotten. They faced another battle – a battle for recognition. Knapsacks and Roses showcase these women veterans using their words and through official reports of the day, shining the light of honor on these women – and all America’s women veterans of World War I – richly deserved and long overdue.
Moving to MOR this month from the Library, its usual venue, the public is invited to take part in the next Wonderlust Friday Forum, “Native Americans at MSU: Past, Present & Future,” set for March 8th in Hager Auditorium at noon. The afternoon event is open to the public.
Dr. Walter Fleming, director of the Department of Native American Studies, will present an overview of the department including academic and student support programs, progress in Native American student enrollment and completion rates, and challenges faced by Native American students. He will also talk about the significance of the new Native American Hall related to MSU’s commitment to American Indians and their role in its history. The Native American Hall is slated to open in 2021.
The monthly speaker series is sponsored by MSU Wonderlust and the Bozeman Public Library Foundation. For more information, please visit www.montana.edu/wonderlust.
On Saturday, March 9th, MSU’s Western Film Series features a screening of John Sayles’ Lone Star at 6pm in Hager Auditorium. The film will be introduced by Dr. Brett Gary, Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University. Doors at 5:30pm. A catered reception will follow the film in the Museum’s Blair Lobby. The screening is open to the public.
Western Film Series events are co-sponsored by the Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the North American West, the School of Film and Photography, and the College of Arts and Architecture.
Finally, on Wednesday, March 13th, the next edition of this season’s Science Inquiry Lecture Series, “Dangerous Snow: Understanding How Avalanches Happen & How to Stay Safer” with Dr. Douglas Smith, will begin at 7pm in Hager Auditorium. This presentation is open to the public.
How and why do avalanches “release,” and how can an improved understanding improve backcountry safety? Dr. Karl Birkeland, Director of the Forest Service’s National Avalanche Center, will offer the results of several decades of research on when snowpack conditions become avalanche prone, and how a better understanding of avalanches can improve safety for those involved in winter activities.
At each Science Inquiry Lecture, join MOR and the Gallatin Valley Friends of the Sciences to explore innovative science topics, their latest developments, and their relevance to society through speaker presentations followed by an engaging Q&A session.
The Museum will also present various events to supplement “Childhood Classics: 100 Years of Children’s Book Illustration,” the new children’s lit-centric exhibit. Childhood Classics Storytime is set for Saturday, March 9th from 10–11am. Teaming with one or two bookworms from Bozeman Public Library, families are welcome to join for an engaging time within the exhibit featuring a select number of these iconic classics. After the story, follow museum staff downstairs to make a story-inspired craft. Included with admission.
For more information about these events and other Museum exhibits, visit www.museumoftherockies.org or call (406) 994-5257. •